13 October 2011

You would think that the Libyan rebels' ethnic cleansing/torture-while still supported by their Franco-Anglo-American friends- would be subject to the Geneva Convention, no?

In the wake of troubling reports detailing serial abuses not only by the Libyan NTC's undisciplined troops but also in larger, systematic ways, Amnesty International came down hard yesterday on the anti-Gaddafi rebels...

Since late August, armed militia have arrested and detained as many as 2,500 people in Tripoli and al-Zawiya. During late August and September, Amnesty researchers visited 11 detention facilities in and around Tripoli and in al-Zawiyah, and interviewed approximately 300 prisoners.

None of those seen by Amnesty had been shown any kind of arrest warrant and many were effectively abducted from their homes by unidentified captors carrying out raids on suspected Gaddafi fighters or loyalists.

Detainees were almost always held without legal orders and mostly without the involvement of Libya’s General Prosecution authority. They were held by local councils, local military council or armed brigades - far from the oversight of the Ministry of Justice.

In its 24-page report, “Detention Abuses Staining the New Libya”, Amnesty says there is clear evidence of torture in order to extract confessions or as a punishment. At least two guards - in separate detention facilities - admitted to Amnesty that they beat detainees in order to extract “confessions” more quickly.

In one detention centre Amnesty found a wooden stick and rope, and a rubber hose, of the kind that could be used to beat detainees, including on the soles of their feet - a torture method known as 'falaqa'.

In another they heard the sound of whipping and screams from a nearby cell. The organisation said that detainees appear to suffer beatings and torture particularly at the start of their detention, being given a "welcome" on arrival...

And it's not just pro-Gaddafi fighters -real or imagined- that they're going after: any and all black males are the ones taking the brunt of the vengeance, basically rounded-up at random in numerous areas and then treated as if of dubious loyalty, regardless of any actual involvement with regime forces:

...sub-Saharan Africans suspected of being mercenaries make up between a third and a half of those detained. Some have been released after no evidence was found to link them to fighting. One man from Niger, initially presented to Amnesty as a "mercenary and killer", broke down and explained that he’d "confessed" after being beaten nearly continuously for two days. He denied being involved in fighting.

Black Libyans - particularly from the Tawargha region, which was a base for Gaddafi forces in their efforts to regain control of Misratah - are also particularly vulnerable. Dozens of Tawarghans have been taken from their homes, checkpoints, and even hospitals.
...
A 17-year-old boy from Chad, accused of rape and being a mercenary, told Amnesty that he was taken from his home in August by armed men who held him in a school where they punched him and beat him with stick, belts, rifles and rubber cables.

He said: "The beatings were so severe that I ended up telling them what they wanted to hear. I told them I raped women and killed Libyans."

It is more than likely that any black pro-Gaddafi fighters would be perfectly happy to melt into the scenery or just leave now, they've got nothing to fight for. As for non-Libyan mercenaries, they were only in it for the paycheck... if that's gone, they're not dying for a doomed regime.

So what do the home round-ups, torture, and executions have to do with establishing security in Libya today? Nothing... just revenge, that's about it.

What a great bunch we're aligned with over there... can we please give them more money:

TRIPOLI—The prisoners file out in groups of 10 under armed rebel guard, made to step on a rug bearing an image of Moammar Gadhafi.

There had been a rebel-led roundup of suspected Gadhafi loyalists in the medina. The detainees are being sent to another location for questioning, expected to take three days.

They are almost all black. Their captors are not.

While the rebels claim Gadhafi’s forces are stocked with mercenaries recruited from various African nations, there is growing concern skin colour is all the proof some rebels need.
...
Shortly before arriving at this former soccer club turned jail the Star saw six men, all black, being walked by rebels in the same direction. The rebel leading the line wore a balaclava.

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